Clothes pins



March 28, 1961 FAUTEUX 2,976,594

CLOTHES PINS Filed April 15, 1957 have tor mm: m 1mm Attorney United States Patent CLOTHES PINS Henri Andre Fauteux, R.R. 2, Hawkesbury, Ontario, Canada Filed Apr. 15, 1957, Ser. No. 652,715

1 Claim. (Cl. 24-439) My invention relates to clothes pins.

Laundering is, to a greater or lesser extent, a recognized part of household routine, and although in some cases heavy articles of laundry may be sent to a commercial laundry, nevertheless more fragile articles are laundered at home, so that clothes pins have become and are an essential article in almost all households.

Open air drying is preferred since articles, while drying, are thoroughly aired, and if the articles are white the bleaching power of sunlight can be advantageously used. The practice of open air drying is to peg washed articles over a clothes line, using a conventional pin which straddles both the article and the clothes line to frictionally press the article into intimate engagement with the line.

Another form of clothes pin frequently found is formed with a pair of hinged spring jaws which embrace the clothes line and article hanging thereon, to press the article into frictional engagement with the clothes line; These older forms of clothes pins are susceptible of riding along the clothes line, so bunching the clothes on the line, and this is very undesirable.

I am aware that many forms of clothes pins have been patented, but they are seldom seen in use and the type of clothes pins commonly encountered are of old or conventional form. Since there are few if any other types of clothes pins than these old or conventional forms in general use, it can only be inferred that the patented forms of clothes pins referred to above are unsatisfactory, probably being ineflicient or not practical.

In open air drying of large washed articles such as sheets, tablecloths etc., these are usually hung over a clothes line and pegged thereon, and it is frequently found, if a high wind should prevail, that the' articles of laundry whip back and forth, and the clothesline sways, with the result that the clothes pins become disengaged from the article of laundry and the line, usually to the detriment of the washed article.

Another great disadvantage of folding large pieces of laundry over a clothes line is that the constant swaying of the laundry on the line causes continual rubbing of the articles at the line of contact with the clothes line, often resulting in damage to the fabric of the article.

In winter when articles of wash are hung over and pegged on a clothes line, the articles may freeze and the folds of the articles over the line become hard and stiff, and the swaying of the article on the clothes line causes rubbing of the article on the line, frequently resulting in breakage of the fibre of the article. Also when removing a stiff or partially frozen article from a clothes line there is a possibility of breaking the strands of the material of the article.

Another disadvantage of laundry drying in which the articles are pegged over a clothes line, particularly if the clothes line is not new, is that the articles contacting the line frequently-become soiled or. marked with dirt or rust.

2,976,594 Patented Mar. 28, 1961:

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2 cient clothes pin should eliminate these disadvantages, and I came to the conclusion that clothes pin, while used in conjunction with a clothes line, should support the article to be air dried, spaced from, and out of contact with the clothes line.

To attain this result the following objects had to be fulfilled.

One of the objects of my invention is to construct a clothes pin having a horizontal member over which an article of wash may be folded, with means for securing the article to the pin, and distribute the weight of the article principally on the horizontal member.

Another object of my invention is to construct a clothes pin capable of being suspended from. a supporting line and formed with a horizontal member over which an article of wash may be hung, with means for securing the article to the pin with the article spaced from and out of actual contact with the line.

A further object of my invention is to provide a clothes pin with a horizontally disposed member over which an article of wash may be pulled or hung, with shorter and longer lengths being located on opposite sides of the member, and provided with means depending from the horizontal member for securing the shorter length of the article to the pin below the horizontal member.

Another object of my invention is to construct a clothes pin provided with means on its upper end for securing it to a support, and lower means for securing an article of wash tothe pin, with a member located between the aforesaid means over which an article of wash must be pulled or folded before being secured to the p Still a further object of my invention is to construct a clothes pin which may be quickly and effectively posi tioned on a clothes line without sliding or creeping and to provide for the attaching of an article of wash to the pin, the article being pulled or folded over a transverse member and spaced below and out of actual contact with the clothes line.

Another object of my invention is to construct a clothes pin which may be attached to a suitable support, the pin being formed with a horizontal member of ap preciable length over which a marginal portion of article of wash may be pulled or folded and permitof the marginal portion being secured to the pin and spaced from the horizontal member. 2'"

A further object of my invention is to construct/a clothes 'pin having an upper member adapted to be hung from a suitable support, and a'lower member to which an article of wash may be frictionally attached, with a skele' ton frame of appreciable size between the two membefs to accommodatethe index finger and/ or thumb of a user of the pin and permit of a portion of an article of wash being freely passed through the frame prior to being en gaged' to the'lower member.

Further objects will be made clear as the specification develops.

I accomplish these objects by the construction and arrangement of the parts of a clothes pin in a manner which will be hereinafter fully disclosed.

So that the nature of my invention .will be clearly understood, I have illustrated severabembodimentsof the principle and use of my invention which I shall 'dscribe in detail, but 'I wishit-to be understood that I do not limit my invention to such specific description'or structure, but reserve the right to modify such structure within the scope of my appended claim'withjdutjdeparting' "In reviewing th'eabove,l realizethat a' new and effifrom the spirit of my invention.

In the drawings: f 3 Figurel jsa; front elevation illustrating'a printary step i nthe fabrication of my clothes pin before thecom; pletion of the upper clothes line hook and the lower resilient clip-in which later a. portion of an article of wash may be embraced.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of my clothes pin as seen when completed.

Figure 3 is a frontelevation of a completed alterna: tive form of my, clothes pin.

Figure 4 is a front elevation of a somewhat similar type of clothes pin to that shown inFigure 3, but with the resilient clip at the lower end'of the pin offset into a horizontal position.

Like characters of reference refer to like parts in thescveral figures.

The-clothes pin A is formed of a resilient-wire such assteel, which is bent around a form, and the abutting ends; of" the wire are electrically welded or otherwise rigidly connected together as at Z. The pinsare of uniform. structure, but to facilitate describing the pins, the method of bending thewire-isnot described, but simply theform of the clothes-pin.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Figures l and 2, A represents my clothes pin which consists of an upper hooked portion B adapted to be secured to a clothes line, a central polygonal skeleton frame C, which simulates an irregular pentagon, and from the horizontal side or arm of this frame a spring clip D depends.

In Figure 1 the hook B is formed like an inverted U with the side arms 11 diverging slightly, and the downwardly disposed arms are offset inwardly at 12 and then converge downwardly at 13 until they come into contact at 14- at the apex of the pentagonal frame C.

The lower horizontal arm 10 of the skeleton frame C is-of appreciable length, and the frame is of a size to accommodate the index finger and/or thumb of the user of the clothes pin for a reason which will be made clear hereinafter.

From the central portion of the arm 10 the resilient clip D depends and consists of two arms 16 which are formed by twisting the wires forming the arm 10 of the skeleton frame C, and these two arms are offset at 17 diametrically opposite each other, and the arms are then bent downwardly to converge and form an inverted broken triangle 18, the lower open end of which is enlarged to a diamond shape 19. The lower arms of the diamond 19 contact at 20 and the lower end 21 of the clip D is of loop shape.

In completing the clothes pin as shown in Figure 2 the hook'B is formed by folding the upperinverted U- shaped portion downwardly adjacent the offset arms 12, sothat the U is now in normal position with the bottom or transverse arm of the U in closeproximity to the converging ends 13 of the arms. The U-shaped member may be slightly bent transversely along its median line so as to form an arcuate engaging portion with a clothes line to; obviate slippage or creeping of the hook B on a clothes line.

The lower end of the clothes pin is completed by folding the resilient clip D upwardly on a transverse line adjacent the lower end of the triangular portion 18 so that the loop 21 and the contacting arms 20 of the clip are encompassed by the sides of the triangular portion 18. This formation gives considerable strength to the resilient arms 20 of the clip D since separation of these armsis not only resisted by the resiliency of the arms themselves but also by theresiliency of the side membersof the inverted triangular portion ldof-the clip.

ltrwill be seen by reference to the right side of the skeleton-frame C that the abutting ends of theresilient wire forming theframe are suitably connected together eitherby-welding or some other appropriatemeans.

Reference is now. made to Figures 3 and 4.of the drawingsiin which the clothes pin A consists of an upper hooked portion B a central polygonal frame C and a. spring clip D depending from the polygonal frame.

As the construction of; the hookportion B and the central polygonal skeleton frame 6 are similar in all respects to the hook B and the skeleton frame C described with reference to Figures 1 and 2, it is not deemed necessary at this time to repeat such description.

There is a difference in the formation of the spring clip D and the spring clip D, and this consists of forming the clip D from the two free ends 22 and 23 of the resilient wire of which the clothes pin A is fashioned.

The free ends 22 and 23 of the wire are formed with oppositely disposed ogee curves, which overlap or cross and recross each other intermediate of their length, so forming a resilient clip between these ends, and in this clip a portion of an article of wash may be engaged and frictionally retained. The ends of these ogee curves are curled so that there is no possibility of the ends piercing the fabric of the piece of wash engaged by the clip.

In Figure 3 the clip D depends vertically and centrally from the lower horizontal member 10 of the skeleton frame C In Figure 4 the clip D is secured to the horizontally disposed arm 10 of the frame adjacent one end thereof, and is offset through approximately ninety degrees to permanently underlie the horizontal arm 10 of the frame C and in approximate parallelism therewith, and this permits the end of an article of Wash to be readily inserted into the clip without twisting the article.

When. using the clothes pin illustrated in Figure 2, the operator holds a marginal portion of a piece of wash between her index finger and thumb and passes it through the skeleton frame C, and the article is thus folded or hung-over the horizontal member 10 of the frame. The shorter end of the marginal portion is now pulled downwardly, and the free end of the article is then pulled up between the adjacent resilient arms 20 of the clip D, and the article is thus suspended from the clothes pin and over the horizontal member 10.

If at this period a pull were exerted on the free and longer end of the article of wash, it would demonstrate the efliciency of the operation of the clothes pin.

When using the pin illustrated in Figure 3, the operator will hold a marginal portion of the article of wash and feed it through the skeleton frame C as described with reference to Figure 2, so that the article will straddle the horizontal member 10 of the frame C and the short marginal end of the article of wash is then drawn up between the contacting ogee curved ends 22 and 23 which form the resilient clip. The article of wash is nowsuspended in a drying position.

In Figure 4 the same procedure of suspending an article of wash from the clothes pin A is followed, and it is not necessary to describethis procedure further as it is similar to that referred to in the use of the clothes pin illustrated in Figure 3.

The clothes pins illustrated in Figures 2 to 4 may be attached to the articles of wash indoors, and then the articles may be taken out and hung on a clothes line. This has the advantage that in inclement weather a person hanging out a wash need not be exposed to the elements for a longer period than necessary when performing this part of the work.

Likewise the articles of wash with pins attached, may be removed from a clothes line and brought indoors when the procedure of dismounting the pins from the washing can be more conveniently performed.

While in the drawings, the hook B for instance that is adapted toengagea clothes line is shown as the curved or bent over upper end of the device, it is to be understood that throughout this specification and the following claims that the term hook is to be interpreted in the broad sense as designating that portion on the upper end of the so-called clothes pin that removably engages a line or other supporting device from which it is desired to suspend the clothes pin.

What is claimed as new is:

A one-piece wire clothes pin comprising a plane skelen fra ah v ns i ho z n all i p ed member of appreciable length for supporting an article of wash passed thereover, a hook connected to the frame, a resilient clip depending from the horizontal member, said clip consisting of a skeleton of generally triangular shape with its apex downwardly disposed, and an inverted U- shaped article of wash gripping member extending upwardly from the said apex into the confines of the triangle, the U-shaped gripping member having a flared opening at its lower end and being formed with a looped upper end, the gripping member being formed with a constricted passageway between the flared open end and the looped upper end, whereby the end of an article of Wash passed over and supported by said horizontal member may be securely held by said inverted U-shaped gripping member in automatic self-tightening grip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Granger Jan. 31, Pittman Mar. 12, French Apr. 20, Cross Mar. 19, Wright May 14, Henig Nov. 2, Conant June 25, Ramm Feb. 9, Graham Jan. 1, Wisehart et a1. Sept. 6,

FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Nov. 6, 

